Far from the Madding Crowd

by Thomas Hardy

WHEN FARMER Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun.

What do you think of this opening sentence?

though the minutes were told with precision, nobody could be quite certain of the hour they belonged to.

woman, young and attractive.

IT WAS nearly midnight on the eve of St. Thomas’s, the shortest day in the year.

The thin grasses, more or less coating the hill, were touched by the wind in breezes of differing powers, and almost of differing natures—one rubbing the blades heavily, another raking them piercingly, another brushing them like a soft broom.

The sky was clear—remarkably clear—and the twinkling of all the stars seemed to be but throbs of one body, timed by a common pulse. The North Star was directly in the wind’s eye, and since evening the Bear had swung round it outwardly to the east, till he was now at a right angle with the meridian.

Hardy - You should have tried to throw in a bit more metaphors and smilies. lol

The inside of the hut, as it now presented itself, was cosy and alluring, and the scarlet handful of fire in addition to the candle, reflecting its own genial colour upon whatever it could reach, flung associations of enjoyment even over utensils and tools.

Yet it was the man who blushed, the maid not at all.

With an air between that of Tragedy and Comedy Gabriel returned to his work.

His want of tact had deeply offended her—not by seeing what he could not help, but by letting her know that he had seen it.

‘Yes. Because if she would I should be very glad to marry her. D’ye know if she’s got any other young man hanging about her at all?’ ‘Let me think,’ said Mrs. Hurst, poking the fire superfluously…. ‘Yes—bless you, ever so many young men.

lol way to burst his bubble

‘I’m only an every-day sort of man, and my only chance was in being the first comer….

But shouldn't he be judged on the strength of his character? Wouldn't otherwise be the dreaded vanity Oak chided earlier?

‘When we be married, I am quite sure I can work twice as hard as I do now.’

‘I can make you happy,’

I want somebody to tame me;

No one can tame me. lol

‘Well, ye see, neighbours, I was lately married to a woman, and she’s my vocation now, and so ye see——’The young man halted lamely.

‘He wasn’t quite good enough for me.’

‘I shall be up before you are awake; I shall be afield before you are up; and I shall have breakfasted before you are afield. In short, I shall astonish you all.’

One characteristic preeminently marked him—dignity.

‘The rose is red, The violet blue, Carnation’s sweet, And so are you.’

Gabriel, to whom her face was as the uncertain glory of an April day, was ever regardful of its faintest changes, and instantly discerned thereon the mark of some influence from without, in the form of a keenly self-conscious reddening. He also turned and beheld Boldwood.

In the same way, to say a little is often to tell more than to say a great deal.

‘I feel—almost too much—to think,’ he said, with a solemn simplicity. ‘I have come to speak to you without preface. My life is not my own since I have beheld you clearly, Miss Everdene—I come to make you an offer of marriage.’

I fear I am too old for you, but believe me I will take more care of you than would many a man of your own age. I will protect and cherish you with all my strength—I will indeed! You shall have no cares—be worried by no household affairs, and live quite at ease, Miss Everdene. The dairy superintendence shall be done by a man—I can afford it well—you shall never have so much as to look out of doors at haymaking time, or to think of weather in the harvest. I rather cling to the chaise, because it is the same my poor father and mother drove, but if you don’t like it I will sell it, and you shall have a pony-carriage of your own. I cannot say how far above every other idea and object on earth you seem to me—nobody knows—God only knows—how much you are to me!’

We learn that it is not the rays which bodies absorb, but those which they reject, that give them the colours they are known by; and in the same way people are specialized by their dislikes and antagonisms, whilst their goodwill is looked upon as no attribute at all.

looking round the homestead before going to bed,

Men are such constant fools!

“Love yields to circumstance.”

‘How murderous and bloodthirsty!’

‘Are ye not more to me than my own affairs, and even life!’

‘I don’t throw you off—indeed, how can I? I never had you.’

‘Why did Troy not leave my treasure alone?’

I would have told this gentleman that I am no man's possesion.

your new freak was my misery.

I would have given worlds to touch your hand,

I did not expect this; but all I have is yours.’

‘I will help to my last effort the woman I have loved so dearly.’

‘And then, between jealousy and distraction, I married him!’

‘Thank you for your devotion, a thousand times, Gabriel! Good-night—I know you are doing your very best for me.’

‘All romances end at marriage.’

‘A ceremony before a priest doesn’t make a marriage.

THE ARRANGEMENT for getting back again to Weatherbury had been that Oak should take the place of Poorgrass in Bathsheba’s conveyance and drive her home, it being discovered late in the afternoon that Joseph was suffering from his old complaint, a multiplying eye, and was, therefore, hardly trustworthy as coachman and protector to a woman. But Oak had found himself so occupied, and was full of so many cares relative to those portions of Boldwood’s flocks that were not disposed of, that Bathsheba, without telling Oak or anybody, resolved to drive home herself, as she had many times done from Casterbridge Market, and trust to her good angel for performing the journey unmolested.

This book has been dragging, and I have tried to put my finger on why. This passage is really over written as though Hardy needs to hit a certain word count. Some of it isn't necessary to move the plot forward. It is so overwritten that it bores me.

‘Do you like me, or do you respect me?’

But you have behaved like a man,

‘You do give it?’

Dude, she just isn't that into you!

Boldwood pressed her hand, and allowed it to drop in her lap. ‘I am happy now,’ he said. ‘God bless you!’

Boldwood might like Bathsheba, but he doesn't respect her.